Estimating value of information technology service management based on process complexity analysis

• US 9,600,784 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2008
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Diao, Yixin, Bhattacharya, Kamal Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): MANSFIELD, THOMAS L
• Application Number:
  US12/062,853
• Publication Number:
  US 20090254492A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,273 Days
• Field of Search: 705/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for quantitatively estimating a value of a given process, such as an IT service management process. For example, a computer-implemented method for estimating a value based on a complexity analysis of a given process comprises a computer performing the following steps. A context for the given process is identified. A baseline for the given process is quantified. The process baseline comprises a key performance indicator and an underlying complexity measure. An improvement measure for the given process is determined. The improvement measure is achieved by at least one of a tooling deployment or a process transformation. A value derived for the given process is estimated based on the context identifying, baseline quantifying, and improvement determining steps.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

deploying and executing an improved enterprise management process of an enterprise management computer product on one or more computer nodes of a computer network;

executing a computerized process to analyze and collect information regarding the execution of the improved enterprise management process on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network and estimate a value of the improved enterprise management process of the enterprise management computer product, wherein the estimated value comprises an indicator of reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process, wherein the computerized process comprises;

identifying a process context for the improved enterprise management process under which the enterprise management computer product is to be evaluated, wherein identifying the process context comprises (i) identifying one or more tasks that make up the improved enterprise management process and (ii) mapping the one or more tasks to standard tasks and a hierarchical process structure, winch are defined by a knowledge base of standard management processes;

generating the process context as a data structure which includes the standard tasks that are mapped to the one or more tasks of the improved enterprise management process based on said mapping and said hierarchical process structure;

quantifying a process baseline for the improved enterprise management process based on the tasks included in said generated process context, wherein the process baseline is quantified using at least one key performance metric and at least one complexity metric for the tasks included in said generated process context,

wherein quantifying the process baseline comprises quantifying the process context using a complexity analysis process framework which estimates a complexity with regard to performing the tasks included in said generated process context that make up the hierarchical process structure representative of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, wherein the complexity analysis process framework determines an execution time for each of the tasks included in said generated process context as a percentage of an overall turn-around time of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, and limits the complexity analysis to those tasks with execution times that are deemed to take a significant amount of time of the overall turn-around time;

utilizing the process baseline to determine an improvement measure for the improved enterprise management process, wherein the improvement measure is achieved based on the deployment of the improved enterprise management process; and

utilizing information generated from the process context, the process baseline, and the improvement measure to generate said estimated value which comprises the indicator of the reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process of the enterprise management computer product; and

outputting the estimated value for assessment of process improvement of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network,

wherein the computer comprises a memory and a processor device operatively coupled to the memory and configured to perform the computerized process.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the process context identities a set of service management processes which can be impacted by the tooling deployment or the process transformation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the complexity analysis process framework is multi-dimensional, wherein dimensions of the complexity analysis process framework include an execution complexity dimension, a coordination complexity dimension, and an information complexity dimension.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the execution complexity dimension represents a complexity with regard to performing the one or more tasks that make up the enterprise management process characterized by the number of tasks, the number of roles associated with a task, and an amount of automation.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the coordination complexity dimension represents a complexity resulting from coordinating between multiple roles within a task or coordinating between multiple roles between tasks.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the information complexity dimension represents a complexity with regard to providing data into the enterprise management process.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the improvement measure is computed from a baseline performance metric.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the baseline performance metric comprises an execution time percentage of the one or more tasks.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the improvement measure is computed from an impacted complexity metric.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the impacted complexity metric comprises a measure of an impact from the tooling deployment or the process transformation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of estimating said value for the enterprise management process further comprises evaluating one or more use cases to estimate the impact of the improvement.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise management process comprises an information technology service process.

13. Apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store program instructions; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the program instruction to;

deploy and execute an improved enterprise management process of an enterprise management computer product on one or more computer nodes of a computer network; and

execute a computerized process to analyze and collect information regarding the execution of the improved enterprise management process on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network and estimate a value of the improved enterprise management process of an enterprise management computer product, wherein the estimated value comprises an indicator of reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process, wherein the computerized process comprises;

identifying a process context for the improved enterprise management process under which the enterprise management computer product is to be evaluated, wherein identifying the process context comprises (i) identifying one or more tasks that make up the improved enterprise management process and (ii) mapping the one or more tasks to standard tasks and a hierarchical process structure, which are defined by a knowledge base of standard management processes;

generating the process context as a data structure which includes the standard tasks that are mapped to the one or more tasks of the improved enterprise management process based on said mapping and said hierarchical process structure;

quantifying a process baseline for the improved enterprise management process based on the tasks included in said generated process context, wherein the process baseline is quantified using at least one key performance metric and at least one complexity metric for the tasks included in said generated process context,

wherein quantifying the process baseline comprises quantifying the process context using a complexity analysis process framework which estimates a complexity with regard to performing the tasks included in said generated process context that make up the hierarchical process structure representative of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, wherein the complexity analysis process framework determines an execution time for each of the tasks included in said generated process context as a percentage of an overall turn-around time of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, and limits the complexity analysis to those tasks with execution times that are deemed to take a significant amount of time of the overall turn-around time;

utilizing the process baseline to determine an improvement measure for the improved enterprise management process, wherein the improvement measure is achieved based on the deployment of the improved enterprise management process; and

utilizing information generated from the process context, the process baseline, and the improvement measure to generate said estimated value which comprises the indicator of the reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process of the enterprise management computer product; and

outputting the estimated value for assessment of process improvement of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the process context identifies a set of service management processes which can be impacted by the tooling deployment or the process transformation.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the complexity analysis process framework is multi-dimensional, wherein dimensions of the complexity analysis process framework include an execution complexity dimension, a coordination complexity dimension, and an information complexity dimension.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein estimating said value for the enterprise management process further comprises evaluating one or more use cases to estimate the impact of the improvement.

17. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including one or more programs which when executed by a computer system perform the steps of:

deploying and executing an improved enterprise management process of an enterprise management computer product on one or more computer nodes of a computer network;

executing a computerized process to analyze and collect information regarding the execution of the improved enterprise management process on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network and estimate a value of the unproved enterprise management process of the enterprise management computer product, wherein the estimated value comprises an indicator of reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process, wherein the computerized process comprises;

identifying a process context for the improved enterprise management process under which the enterprise management computer product is to be evaluated, wherein identifying the process context comprises (i) identifying one or more tasks that make up the improved, enterprise management process and (ii) mapping the one or more tasks to standard tasks and a hierarchical process structure, which are defined by a knowledge base of standard management processes;

generating the process context as a data structure which includes the standard tasks that are mapped to the one or more tasks of the improved enterprise management process based on said mapping and said hierarchical process structure;

quantifying a process baseline for the improved enterprise management process based on the tasks included in said generated process context, wherein the process baseline is quantified using at least one key performance metric and at least one complexity metric for the tasks included in said generated process context,

wherein quantifying the process baseline comprises quantifying the process context using a complexity analysis process framework which estimates a complexity with regard to performing the tasks included in said generated process context that make up the hierarchical process structure representative of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, wherein the complexity analysis process framework determines an execution time for each of the tasks included in said generated process context as a percentage of an overall turn-around time of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network, and limits the complexity analysis to those tasks with execution times that are deemed to take a significant amount of time of the overall turn-around time;

utilizing the process baseline to determine an improvement measure for the improved enterprise management process, wherein the improvement measure is achieved based on the deployment of the improved enterprise management process; and

utilizing information generated from the process context, the process baseline, and the improvement measure to generate said estimated value which comprises the indicator of the reduction in a task complexity of the improved enterprise management process of the enterprise management computer product; and

outputting the estimated value for assessment of process improvement of the improved enterprise management process executing on the one or more computer nodes of the computer network.